Go there anytime during the day of July 26 before 4pm EASTERN/1pm PACIFIC. The Black Eyed Peas' "THE APL SONG" will NOT be listed on the website.You must scroll below and under "OTHER", manually input "The Black Eyed Peas" under Artist Name and "The Apl Song" under Video Title.

Also, Fill out section 2 and hit the submit button. You just did all of us proud. So why not go back and VOTE AGAIN? While you're at it, vote 3 times, even 5. The more the merrier! Keep in mind, "THE APL SONG" is not scheduled to play on MTV on July 26 UNLESS WE VOTE FOR IT!

WHY JULY 26?

After watching the video, you'll have a better understanding of the underlying issue brought up in "The Apl Song" video. July 26 will be the 63rd year anniversary of the induction of the Filipino military organizations to fight in WWII under the U.S. flag. On July 26, 1941, President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order calling members of the Philippine Commonwealth Army into the service of the United States Armed Forces of the Far East . Under this order, Filipinos were entitled to full veterans' benefits. More than 100,000 Filipinos volunteered for the Philippine Commonwealth Army and fought alongside the United States armed forces. Today, some of these proud veterans have yet to be acknowledged and yet to receive their full benefits. For more information, please visit:

Sonny Izon just e mailed me to update the PBS showing of ?An Untold Triumph?. The date is now May 30, 2005. Please pass the word.

Regards,Tony Somera

=======

Woof All:

The preceding was forwarded to me by John Spezzano. Tony Somera is the heir/GM of Leo Giron's Bahala Na Arnis/Eskrima. GM Giron appears in "Untold Triumph"

BTW, we have finished editing the DVD conversion of "The Grandfathers Speak" and there will be nearly 30 minutes of additional footage which principally consists of an interview I did with GM Giron in his Training Hall/basement in 1991 wherein he discusses his experiences in CQC in detail. As usual, fine work from Editor Ron "Night Owl" Gabriel.

It has been our goal to produce a documentary worthy of Public Television. We had our Hawaii Premiere on Nov. 4 2002, which was wonderfully received. It has since made the rounds of some 40 colleges around the mainland, Smithsonian, MacArthur's Museum in Virginia, etc.

And now, finally, it has been announced by NAATA that they will sponsorthe showing of "An Untold Triumph" on National PBS, on May 30th,Memorial Day at 10:00 pm EST on the mainland and in Hawaii, it will beat 9:00 pm on Channel 10. (Mainlanders check with your local PBSstation for the channel and also the time of showing.)

Join us in the pride we, the production team, are experiencing with thisachievement. We thank all of you who have encouraged us these manyyears. (since '95)

Be sure to announce this significant date to "all your friends &families". Our Director tells us that we are blessed to have ourdocumentary on National Public Television and on Prime time, We are toldthat some 2 million viewers will see the story of the sacrifices and thecourage of the men of the Regiments in helping General MacArthur keephis promise to the Filipino people "that he will return!"

The men of the Regiments are proud of the great giftedness & creativityof the production team. We owe them a debt of gratitude for keeping thelegacy of the lst and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments, US Army, forposterity!!

HONOLULU/WASHINGTON D.C. - The filmmakers of the award-winningdocumentary, AN UNTOLD TRIUMPH, which tells the story of the U.S.Army's 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments, have just receivedword that PBS has accepted the film for its national primetimeschedule.

PBS has scheduled the documentary to air on Memorial Day, May 30,2005 at 10:00 PM following a repeat broadcast of the AmericanExperience program "Bataan Rescue." AN UNTOLD TRIUMPH includes aretelling of the Bataan Death March from the Filipino soldier'sperspective.

Japanese diplomats pressed ahead Saturday with efforts to contact twoWorld War II soldiers reportedly living in the southern Philippinessince they were separated from their division six decades ago.

The men -- who would be in their 80s -- were said to have beenseparated from the 30th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army and thenstayed in the remote mountains on Mindanao island for fear of beingcourt-martialed in Japan.

The astonishing claim that World War II holdouts may still be alive hasattracted huge interest in Japan, where veterans are marking the 60thanniversary of the war's end.

But the Japanese government urged caution, saying the report came fromsomebody who had not seen the men himself. Efforts to contact the pairalso were complicated by the fact that the area in which theysupposedly were found is notorious for ransom kidnappings and attacksby Muslim separatists, who have waged war for three decades. Communistrebels also are active there.

Tokyo first learned of the former soldiers in January, from a Japanesetrader on Mindanao who has been trying since Friday to arrange ameeting so officials could try to confirm the men's' identities,Japanese Embassy spokesman Shuhei Ogawa said.

But Ogawa stressed that the trader had not seen the men and was relyingon a Filipino contact, who himself got word of the mystery soldiers fromyet another Filipino.

"You should know this type of information comes in all the time," hesaid. "We really have no idea if these two people exist."

He said the diplomats who traveled to General Santos city, 600 milessouth of Manila, were still "trying to work out (the details of) a meeting."

On Sunday, they will be joined by an official from the Japanese HealthMinistry, which is in charge of keeping records of former soldiers whosurvived as well as recovering the remains of those killed during the war.

The Philippines, then a U.S. colony, was a major battleground in thePacific. The Japanese occupation is remembered as brutal for itsmassacres of civilians and deaths of hundreds of thousands of U.S. andFilipino soldiers. After the United States retook the islands from theJapanese, the country became independent in 1946.

According to Japanese government records, the men could have been partof a unit of 16,000 soldiers on Mindanao, of which only about 3,000were believed to have survived the war.

The Japanese invaded the Philippines on Dec. 20, 1941. Years after thewar ended, there were signs in the Philippines warning about Japanesesoldiers still in the hills.

A few surrendered as late as 1948. In March 1974, intelligence officerLt. Hiroo Onoda came out of hiding on northern Lubang island, but herefused to give up until the Japanese government flew in his formercommander to formally inform him the war was over.

The last of the three known former Japanese soldiers to surrender, inDecember 1974, was Taiwanese national Teruo Nakamura, who fought forthe Japanese army on Indonesia's Morotai island. He returned to Taiwanat age 57.

In 1972, Shoichi Yokoi, who had hid for 27 years in the jungles of thePacific island of Guam without knowing the war had ended, also returnedto Japan. He died at age 82 in 1997.

Rumors of other soldiers hiding out have surfaced but were neversubstantiated.

The Yomiuri newspaper, Japan's largest, reported Saturday that the twomissing soldiers currently sought were first seen in August by aJapanese lumber businessman, who relayed "the near-unbelievable tale oftheir survival" to a veterans' association, which then sent members tothe island to contact them.

The two former soldiers reportedly said they feared beingcourt-martialed and executed if they returned to Japan, Yomiuri said,adding the association tried to allay their concerns by sending themold magazines that reported Onoda's case.

Meanwhile, the convergence of Japanese reporters on the bustling portcity of General Santos raised security concerns in the volatile area,and the embassy warned them not to venture out in search of the men orfollow anyone offering to guide them. Philippine police issued asimilar warning.